Monuments and Melodies: First Day of Spring! Cats! Spirit Twins!

Helloooooooooooo Spring!

Kinda. It's still chilly over here in PA. But it's all good!

So guess what comes with the first day of Spring?? Free Rita's! Even though it was cold and extremely windy, I was stubborn and wore my springiest outfit and we waited in line to get free Rita's. We couldn't eat it in our cars, however, so we sat outside and ate it as fast as we could.

Thursday was our Relief Society activity-- "Life Hack Night." All the women got together to learn about fast ways to cook, clean, and organize. In the end we ate a bunch of food, including spanakoptia and tilapia. Be proud that I actually ate those two items! It was fun because I got to meet a lot of the women in the ward that I haven't previously met. For some reason I haven't been able to remember people's names as well as usual, so Sister Suckow quizzed me over and over who everyone was.

We had a couple great lessons this week, including one with Victoria. If you don't remember, last week I told yous guys how there was a woman who showed up at church and wanted to meet with the Sisters, so we set up an appointment. Well, we were able to meet with her twice this week. She has SO MANY GOOD QUESTIONS! When we were teaching her the first half of the Plan of Salvation Sister Suckow felt impressed to show her the video "For God So Loved the World," (lds.org/biblevideos) and it definitely invited the Spirit into the lesson so strong. We were able to bear testimony of the Atonement, and it was an amazing experience. And at church on Sunday she told us how it was a "funny coincidence" that the topics given were things she had been thinking about a lot lately. But she definitely understood that there are no such things as coincidences.

We also saw Rosalie and her daughter this week. Rosalie had surgery last week and when our Relief Society president found out, she jumped right on board to help her out. She organized meals and someone to watch Rosalie's daughter when needed. Rosalie kept telling us how grateful she was and how other churches she had been to were supposed to take care of people like that, but they never did. She was so grateful, and I was very touched by the willingness to help from the women in the ward. How amazing and selfless they are!

We invited Rosalie's daughter to New Beginnings (an introduction to the Young Women's program (ages 12-18)) on Wednesday, and she was excited to go. Elisia Soto picked her up and when we met them at the church, Rosalie's daughter was bouncing all over the place. Literally! She was so excited to be there. And I was, too! It was an awesome New Beginnings-- they had tables that coordinated with the different values. Each table was set up by two young women, and everything was color-coordinated, including their clothes! The main theme was princesses, and how we're all daughters of a Heavenly King, therefore making us princesses. It was really cool how it was all set up!

Last but not least, I met my spirit twin yesterday. Well, I've met her before because she teaches Institute, but I actually got to get to know her. You know what I mean? Well, her name is Ruthie, and she's awesome. Sister Suckow kept telling me that I reminded her of Ruthie. So when we were at her house, her cat crawled up into a brown paper bag. I jumped up and picked the cat up in the bag and carried it over to the couch. Ruthie said, "I knew when you picked that bag up you were just like me. I knew I liked you!" Hahaha. Well, I could go into detail about how awesome she is, but would that be a vain thing since she's my spirit twin?

Love yous!

Sister Singleton